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MULTICULTURALISM AS A DISCOURSE OF DISGUISE: A POSSIBLE CANADIAN SOLUTION
agencies to establish universal rights. Ihe belief that we need a discourse of
concepts such as rights, equality and justice, freedom, self-determination and
autonomy has led to the creation of innumerable agencies proposing to level
the cultural playing field a little bit more.
But Kymlika also acknowledges that we have not made much progress. No
one has a shared understanding of what an indigenous or minority group is.
They do not share a similar understanding of multicultural, nor do people have
shared criteria for identifying minorities. The discourse of multiculturalism has
had to navigate, “diversity politics, liberal pluralism, pluralist constitutionalism,
plural-culturalism and more.” Where people seem to exhibit a motive to be
part of developing missions that would direct change, resistance to change is
considerable. Cultures with power fear losing it. Cultures with massive support
from members do not want competition. The trade-off between justice and
security undermines whatever fancy words philosophers invent.
Kymlika also acknowledges that the categories of multiculturalism, with
words such as minorities and rights, provide no suggestions for penetrating
entrenched political orders. “There has been no serious attempt to codify
cultural rights for immigrants at the international level.”#
In short, the multicultural movement will only have universal relevance
and generate change if we recognize “generic minority rights as the floor of
a larger framework of liberal multiculturalism that relies on a complex set of
targets and conditions.” Kymlika concludes: “... that the long term prognosis
for the global diffusion of liberal multiculturalism is poor indeed.”** One can
only conclude that Canada’s international public persona, which is being
flaunted energetically at home, is not regarded by other nations as a model to
follow. Few believe that such a policy can become an inspiring idea for others
in the changing world.
Colin Mooers: Disguising the Controls of Capital Success
Perhaps marketing a multicultural persona opens the door for other
aspirations associated with liberal societies, i.e., a participation in market
economies. According to Colin Mooers, the culture of those seeking profits —
the market culture — have found opportunities by exploiting the slogans and
promises of multicultural discourse.
In “Multiculturalism and the Fetishism of Difference”, Colin Mooers
observed: “There were very few voices in the immigrant communities that called
on the government to initiate a policy of multiculturalism. Their main concerns
10 Will Kymlika, Multicultural Odysseys, Oxford, Oxford University, 2007, 17-18.
1 Tbid., 123.
® Ibid., 315.
43 Tbid., 316.